Photo courtesy Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid. © 2013 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Head of a Horse, Sketch for Guernica, Paris, May 2, 1937, oil on canvas

Throughout his lengthy career, Spanish artist Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) experimented with wildly divergent styles, techniques, subject matter, and mediums. But over the decades, he would continually return to creating works in the most simple - and often striking - hues of black and white.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston will showcase nearly 100 of Picasso's paintings, sculptures, and drawings on paper in the upcoming exhibit Picasso in Black and White. The works - which cover the years 1904 through 1970 - come to Houston after the exhibit's premiere at the Guggenheim in New York, largely through the efforts and friendship of MFAH Director Gary Tinterow and the exhibit's curator, Carmen Giménez.

"I've known Carmen since 1984, and we've discussed this project many times over the last decade," Tinterow - who was appointed MFAH director last year - says. "I immediately asked if we could be the second and only other venue for the exhibit, and now we have it. It is a pathbreaking and breathtaking show."

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Opening night at Cronicas, patrons view Ivete Lucas' video montage

Friday night, FotoFest opened its latest exhibition Crónicas, which is a multi-media group show featuring seven Mexican artists. Each of the artists' work examines the culture of violence that has been so prevalent in Mexico over the past few years. The exhibition runs through March 9 and is on display at the Fotofest gallery at Vine Street.

While the mediums of the artists are very varied, the tone and feel of the show is one of consistence: Mexico is apparently a very scary place.

In artist Miguel Aragón's series of "Hand Drilled Portraits" the artist layers hand-drilled paper over Xerox to create a fantastic visual effect. The style is reminiscent of pointillism, where the conglomeration of the holes makes up a complete image when you step away. The images are that of faces that he describes as "innocent bystanders and cartel members." They are long and dark and the effect of black on white creates a sad, emptiness. The process itself is somewhat aggressive and the portraits reflect the hostile nature of atmosphere. Aragón descends from Juárez, which is known for its brutality.

Miguel Aragon's "drilled portraits"

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"Red" by Alex Teal

Saturday night marked the opening of the Betz Art Gallery's new home at the Summer Street Studio Warehouse. Betz has been in existence for roughly 10 years but was looking to make a move. Summer Street offers an exciting opportunity for both the gallery and the studios. If this corridor wasn't arty enough, having a prestigious gallery move into Summer Street will only bring more attention, giving both the space and the other artists who do their work at Summer Street some love.

Betz opened its doors with its annual "Twelve by Twelve" show. The showcase is a collection of works that all fit into a 12 by 12 sized format, however how the artists use that space is up to them. The annual show has occurred for several years now, and this year Betz received more than 100 submissions to this juried exhibition. Of the 100 artists vying for a slot, 50 were chosen, each being allowed to submit up to three pieces of art. Ten of the artists are international.

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Menil director Josef Helfenstein receiving proclamation from Council Member Ellen Cohen.

Check out our slideshow.

Chances are, even if you've never visited The Menil Collection, if you're an artsy type within the city of Houston, you've heard of it. It's that place where lectures, special art exhibits and other programs and festivals are always being held. The Menil is privately positioned in a perfect Pleasantville-esque neighborhood, so guests feel comfortable, privileged even, to visit its first floor, either on an after-work Wednesday afternoon or a standard art-visiting weekend -- like this past Saturday, when the autumn sun smiled approvingly on scores of families -- and dancing ballerinas -- crowded onto the front lawn to celebrate the museum's 25th Birthday Party.

The birthday party was a cross-cultural blast: guests moved in and out of The Menil, taking in its latest exhibit, Silence, performances by the TSU Jazz Ensemble and the Kashmere Reunion Stage Band and, per birthday party regulations, quite a lot of cake and ice cream. The kiddies got to participate in a scavenger hunt. The highlight of the afternoon was an official city proclamation, presented to Menil director Josef Helfenstein.

The Menil's birthday celebration was also an opportunity to introduce Voices of the Menil, a new phone app that talks to you while you walk around the Menil campus and neighborhood.

The Menil is privately owned and houses the privately acquired art collection of John and Dominique de Menil, but the building is public, free to all between the hours of 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday. Says Vance Muse, Communications Director, the Menil's reach stretches far beyond Houston: from "Los Angeles to New York, from "London to Berlin."

"It's a local treasure and a global phenomenon," Muse said.

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"Call Me Andre" Leslie Starobin

Last week the Holocaust Museum opened two exhibits that brought to life the painful memories shared by first and second-generation families of the Holocaust. The two collections, "Inheritance: Stories of Memory and Discovery" and "Blood Memory: a view from the second generation" are the works of women, both New England-based, yet they come from a very distinct place with wildly different approaches to the subject.

"Inheritance: Stories of Memory and Discovery," which is hung in the museum's central gallery, is a collection of montages by photographer Leslie Starobin. Starobin spent several years collecting stories from Jewish Holocaust survivors and their children. In addition to her conversations, she was given access to many of these families' keepsakes and items salvaged from the war. She has compiled this research into brilliant photographic montages that are in a word: stunning.

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Facebook

Elrod: Sad to say that she is not the leader of an underground prostitution bribery ring run by sacrilegious gangsters.

The victory of Leanne "Elrod" Rodriguez in last month's Neopopstreetfunk Viewer's Choice competition at M Squared Gallery was not universally applauded. (Her win means her work will be included in the show, which begins November 16.)

In fact, one anonymous soul was outraged enough to write Art Attack a letter about the San Francisco "Mexakitsch" artist's triumph, one the scandalized unknown scribe claimed was tainted by every sin from blasphemy most foul to trading sex for votes.

Yes, all this, because of a viewers' choice tally compiled through likes and shares on Facebook.

"Some alarming issues were brought to our attention," the Hater sniffed, and quickly cut to the chase, citing what he or she or it believed were Elrod's vile misdeeds.

The Hater directed us to one Facebook post wherein Elrod exclaimed that "DRASTIC TIMES CALL FOR DRASTIC VOTE BRIBING," and another where she offered up three of her works -- two paintings from her "Chubby Chola" collection and a luchadora-styled skateboard -- as enticements for those who shared her post.

"You get an entry for every share you made, so kudos to the hustlers that reposted that nastiness all week ;) I'll throw all the names in a bowl and smoke it - er, I mean, pull the winners tonight at 9."

The Hater was not through being mortified. Far from it.

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The Artadia Awards only happen biannually and have grown into an important national arts organization that gives visual artists not only cash rewards for their artistic endeavors, but the opportunity to work side by side with renowned curators. This year's winners will exhibit at Texas Contemporary Art Fair.

The Artadia Award application deadlines have been announced as September 24 at 11:59 p.m. (CST).

Artadia has a residency program in New York and will send the awardees from Houston to New York for a three-month residency at the International Studio and Curatorial Program in Brooklyn. This is an incredible opportunity for the chosen artists to have their work seen in one of the hottest arts cities in the world. The National Endowment for the Arts sponsors this program.

There's also an Exhibitions Exchange program that allows awardees to hold exhibitions in another state currently receiving Artadia awards. Participating cities include San Francisco, Atlanta, Chicago, Boston and Houston.

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Diego Velázquez, Spanish, 1599-1660 Mars c. 1638 Oil on canvas Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid (P1208) © Museo Nacional del Prado - Madrid, Spain

Diego Velázquez, Mars c. 1638 Oil on canvas

In December of last year, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston appointed internationally recognized curator and scholar Gary Tinterow as its new director. A year later, he has secured an exhibition loan from one of the most magnificent European museums. Portrait of Spain: Masterpieces from the Prado will visit Houston this December.

This is the largest international loan the Prado has undertaken since it opened in 1812, and this exhibition is creating quite a lot of excitement among the curators at the MFAH. I spoke to curator of European Art at the MFA Edgar Peters Bowron, who let me in on some of the highlights to expect:

One of the highlights is that we will have an entire room full of Goya prints, from three of his series: The Caprices,The Disasters of Warand The Follies, or Proverbs. As well, there are a lot of paintings by artists who fall a little below the radar. The intent was to present a portrait of paintings of Spain. So you get some wonderful 19th-century landscapes by artists we are completely unfamiliar with, as well as some historical painters. The highlight is really its totality as a representation of the Spanish period of painting through the 16th to 19th century.

The Prado in Madrid is one of the most renowned museums in Europe, on par with the Louvre in Paris and the National Gallery in London. Its collection of European masters is one of the greatest in the world. No doubt helped by Tinterow's enviable connections -- before coming here, he had a distinguished career spanning three decades at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York -- the show is a coup for Houston, with more than 100 of the Prado's works on view.

This is an exclusive tour with only two destinations -- Queensland Art Gallery in Australia and the MFAH in Houston. It's a major achievement for the MFAH, as Houston will be the only place in the United States this exhibit of Spanish Renaissance masters is shown.

Portrait of Spain is composed of 100 masterpieces from Spanish artists such as El Greco, Diego del Velázquez and Francisco de Goya. Italian masters who worked for the Spanish Court, such as Ruben and Titian, are also represented.

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Randall Kallinen and his piece "Little Caitlyn's Burden"

There's nothing new about mixing food with art; we all like a good nosh with our art shows. Randall Kallinen of Kallinen Contemporary art gallery had something different in mind when he thought about the food to serve at his current exhibition; Kallinen wanted the food to be the art and vice versa. The outcome of this culinary creation is the new showcase "Cornucopia Incorporated: A Food Related Event," which opened this Saturday, August 4.

Kallinen, along with curator Paul Hartman, invited more than 50 artists to submit their work to the exhibition. Each piece captures the essence of Kallinen's guidelines of relating to "food and/or eating" in some way or another. The weekend's opening reception included a juried panel of "celebrity judges" that chose their favorite pieces from the collection.

The judges included Paper City magazine's Fine Arts Editor, Catherine Anspon; award-winning Texas artist Bert L. Long Jr.; and one of ARTnews magazine's "Top 200 Collectors in the World," Lester Marks. The panel chose seven artists in total. The winning artists will be favored with a "winners only" exhibition sometime next year. Based on the vast size of the gallery, the amount of wall space that these artists will be privy to most certainly counts as a prize.

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photos by Marco Torres

Art lovers packed into Lawndale Art Center on Friday Night for the annual Big Show.

Check out our pictures from The Big Show and The Little Big Show, both in one handy slideshow.

If you have ever spent any time outside at dusk in Houston, then you have seen the mesmerizing attractive powers that a porch light has on the various flying insects of the Texas night.

Kamila Szczesna's work, "Flux #9," created the same type of awe on Friday night at Lawndale Art Center. The light-boxed work attracted praise and fascination, standing out as a beacon in a room full of paintings, photographs and sculptures. Her piece is both technical and personal, joining science and emotion with a transcendence that kept admirers in observation for extended periods of time.

Works such as this will always be the highlight of "The Big Show."

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